Valley of the Dead Oaks
by Shelx5678
Summary: Zero feels like giving up on humans. But maybe a girl from a wicked family can help him change his mind. ZeroXOC. First Fanfiction, please R&R, it would help a lot.
1. Family Profiling

**First Fanfiction. Not sure how to do this right yet. I'm not even sure if I'm even doing anything at this point.**

**Diclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight or anything in this story that is not mine. I got the names off of etemology websites and such, so those aren't really mine either. I don't know. I just know I don't own Vampire Knight.**

**-Chapter 1-**

**Family Profiling**

Ok. To say that Zero was pissed would be a major understatment. But there were no words that could describe how many people he wanted to punch in the face right now, so he settled for "pissed".

He was tired of being treated like a freaking prisoner in his own kingdom. His parents had once been some of the most powerful Vampire Hunters this world had ever known... or, not known. But here he was. Being followed by hunters on a schedule to make sure he didn't step out of line. Having a gun cocked to his head everytime he sneezed.

But what the hell could he do about it. It wasn't like there was some sort of serum that could bring back his human side. Someone should really start working on that, he thought to himself, trying to calm himself down a bit.

But since he couldn't, he resorted to throwing his water glass at the far wall.

It exploded in a shower of glass. He was starting to fume. More mad at himself now for creating a bigger mess to clean up. Sighing roughly, he crossed the dark room to retrieve the glass pieces in the carpet.

It was his apartment, but if "Headmaser Cross" saw the mess in the morning, Zero would be asked millions of worried questions in which would make him even more mad. He sat wondering if he had really ever not been mad a day in his life. Maybe he shouldn't have gotten an apartment so close to the association. That, possibly, could be a major problem causer, Zero thought sarcastically.

He bent over to pick up the glass. Despite his nagging memory of his childhood nurse yelling at him not to touch broken glass, he scooped it all in his hands at once, not caring about the million tiny stings that the glass caused. He dumped the shards into the trash can in his apartment, ignoring the rest on the floor. A vacuum or something could take care of that later. He had already lost interest in this mess. His brain was yelling at him to get rid of some of his messes, and this one didn't concern him as much as the other ones did. He filed it for a rainy day.

He turned his attention to his hand, where most of the cuts were closing, but the deep red liquid remained. He tried to recall the last time he had been graced with fresh, real blood. The last time had been before Yuki had left with that damn pureblood. Yuki. The one he had finally grown to love. With another man. His worst enemy. That was the number one problem in his life. But she was happy now. Shouldn't that be all that mattered to him? Whatever.

A powerful hunger started to unsettle his stomache, moving to his eyes, turning them a never ending scarlet color. He knew drinking his own blood wouldn't benefit him. But, God, he was hungry.

The hunger eating at his insides was too overpowering. Almost like an addiction he needed to fulfill before he suffered from God-forsaken withdrawl. He went to his dresser and grabbed his medicine box. He threw back two or twenty pills and gulped down a glass of water. He stumbled over to his bed and laid with his hands over his eyes. A couple deep breaths later and his hunger was a little more under control. He stayed like that until he fell asleep... a few hours later.

Zero woke up as ticked off as ever. Just because the sun didn't bother his non-vampire-born eyes didn't mean that he had to be a morning person. In fact, morning people ticked him off even more. So when the president of the association came bouncing up, Zero was not amused.

"Zero, good morning! I have some great news!" The president seemed to brimming over with bubbliness.

But if he expected a real answer from Zero this early in the morning, then he was mentally insane. So he recieved a small grunt out of him instead. The president didn't seem to be deterred.

"Zero, do you remember the Jolons?" He paused in another attempt to get Zero to speak. When he finaly realized that wouldn't be happening, he continued. "Well, there coming over to OUR association building to watch us do what we do best. They should be here in a couple hours or so, so be on your best behavior and act presentable." At this he threw a wink at Zero, whom had gone slightly pale at the mention of the family.

When translated into the true meaning, Jolons meant "valley of the dead oaks". Which, Zero thought, is about as creepy as the real people. The Jolons were another Vampire Hunting family, close in rankings with the Kiryu's, but a million time more merciless. Their oldest child had made his first kill at the age of five. Normal hunters finished training around age thirteen. Rumor had told that each child has the head of their firsts kills hanging in their rooms above their heads. There was something messed-up about the whole family.

"Zero? Ze-ro? ...Zero?" Zero lightly felt the finger of the president jabbing into his cheek, well, until Zero threw his hand away from his face. He found himself mad again.

"What the hell are they doing coming here?" Zero spoke his first words of the morning. Actually, shouted probably says it better. Everyone in the main hall of the association building became silent and stared at Zero, a few with their hands on their guns. Zero didn't care anymore. He recalled his angst from last night.

Giving a small growl, he turned from Cross and stormed off in the opposite direction. The noise his boots made were slowly draind out by the noise of the people in the hall returning to their movements.

Zero ran his eyes around the familiar building. The elaborate, high dome ceiling made the place seem more holy, rather than hunter-ish. They usually brought the vampires they caught through this way, so there was bars placed on all the windows. The bars over the small windows made it more intimidating. The lighting was dimmed. "No use wasting any money by lighting the building beyond what was needed," the president always said.

Zero navigated through a few more corridors, pretending not to notice anyone around him. Even the few girls who threw him flirtatious waves. He recongnized the one girl in the middle. Aimi Sohmo. She had been in the day class at Cross academy for a while. She was all gossip though. She threw herself at almost any opportunity for attention and had often claimed that she had seduced a few of the men in the night class. As if. "Hey, Zero!" Aimi called. She also had started to assume that they were friends. But he did have to admit, she was kind of cute.

But he wasn't as gracious to admit it on the outside. He walked past them without aknowledging their presence. He'd really rather be left alone to sulk the arrival of the Jolons. He decided to climb to his favorite spot in the association before he had to leave on his duties.

He turned a few corners into the oldest part of the building. It had once been used as the school part of the young trainees education, but was later deemed unnecesary, therefore had been closed. Now the students were left to find their own education at whatever school their parent's chose. They had never tore it down though, and it had never been remade. It was just... there. They hadn't even removed the furnature, desks and all. They had even left the grand piano in the music room. That was his secret room.

The music room was the largest of all the classrooms. And the shelf on one wall of the room was easy to climb into the ceiling, where you could go anywhere in the Association from. Including the clock tower, the highest part of the city.

Once he had climbed up there, he could see the entire town. He sat on an open window ledge and let himself melt into pensive thought.

So the Jolons decided to pay them a visit. He should have seen it coming sooner or later. They were always looking for ways to beat ahead of this particular association. They were so dense though! Zero wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even kow his family was dead. Or if they didn't know about the events however many years ago that was. He didn't keep track anymore. Eleven, twelve or something.

But then again, maybe they had just found out and wanted to offer their "condolences". Hell, maybe they'd offer Zero a place in their family. They would. But it would be for their own personal image.

He would decline, naturaly. There was no doubt about that. He didn't even feel like he belonged where humans were anymore. Plus they already had like, five children anyway. They were a big family. Seven in all.

Takashi and Shinobu Jolon were the parents. Both were your extremely stereotype vampire hunter insane psycho-person. Plus they were pretty old, but never seemed to slow down a bit. Zero was annoyed by them.

Akira, he was the oldest child and the most aggresive. About eight or nine years older than Zero. Zero didn't like him.

Then, um... *snap* right, Nikoru and Koru. Twins, like him and Ichiru. Nikoru was sweet, but deadly. Zero didn't much care for her. Koru talked big, but was no threat. Zero didn't much care for him either.

The fourth child was Osamu. The boy liked his meals. And snacks, and all other food he could stuff himself with. Zero was disgusted by him.

There was a fifth child. A girl, I think, thought Zero. She was his age, if he remembered correctly. He couldn't bring her name to mind. But then, she must not be as bad as the rest of them to not have her own mental profile.

Zero sat for about another fifteen minutes until he decided it was about time to get back to his reality. He climbed back into the music room and followed hallways into the Association building. This was going to be a long day, Zero thought.

And he felt that was an understatment.

**First Fanfiction. Please, pleasepleaseplease comment and tell me if I'm doing this right. I promise I have a whole plot and everything in my head. I may start out rough, but I promise I'll get somewhere! **


	2. The Jolons

**Chapter two, sheesh. Writing Fanfiction is harder than I thought, but it's so much fun! This is still my first one so be nice! Except not really feeling this one is as good as the first... oh well. Hopefully it'll get better as this goes along ;)**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Vampire Knight or any other possible references I may make in this story. (I'm writing the disclaimer before the story so I have no idea about what's gonna happen yet. We'll see:) )**

**-Chapter 2-**

**The Jolons**

Zero felt a gust of strong wind blow his face as the Level E in front of him turned to dust. He didn't flinch, even as the ex-human gave out his final repulsive screech. Another job done, another Level E eliminated. The dang beast made Zero chase him around half of the town until finally being cornered in an abandoned barn on the border. It was hardly worth the effort.

His breathing was still heavy after chasing the rouge vampire around town, but he wasn't going to show that to his "partner".

Or... more like the guy the Association had sent to keep an eye on him. The human's eyes widened in fear as he caught a glimpse of the adrenaline still in Zero's eyes, making him seem more dangerous and terrifying than usual. His heart skipped a beat as Zero's eyes squinted at him. He silently begged to a higher power not to let Zero lose control here and now in front of him.

"Alright. We're done here. Let's go." Zero said between exaggerated breaths. He really did want to get back. He clung to a hope that he would possibly get back and out of there before the Jolons could arrive, and hopefully never run into them in the entire length of their stay. Or ever again.

His bodyguard nodded quickly with his head cast mostly down and started walking back to the car parked close by. Zero really felt bad for the kid, in a not-really sort of way. His last name was Suoh. Zero had never bothered to learn his first name, knowing no close relationship would be formed.

Plus in the first second they had been introduced, Zero decided he could take Suoh down without breaking a sweat. He was at least fifty to sixty pounds overweight and his greasy black hair hung down well past his shoulders. His pudgy face was pale due to his unnatural hate for the Sun. It was almost safe to say that he could devote his life to his work because there most likely wouldn't be a woman in his life anytime soon. The problem with that was that Suoh wasn't really good at his job either.

Just one of those floaters in life, with no purpose what-so-ever. Zero almost felt jealous because of this. Well, the last part anyway. Almost.

As they neared the Association building, Zero quickly scanned the parking lot. He had long ago memorized the regular parking spaces of the Association members. There really was no other form of entertainment for him so this habit had developed quickly.

He noticed three matching cars parked in normally vaccant spaces. He cursed quietly under his breath. Suoh jumped at Zero's outburst and as soon as the car stopped, he jumped out and ran into the building as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. Zero paused in the car for a few more seconds before finally crawling out, much to the driver's relief.

He stretched his neck until he heard a satisfying crack and shut the car door. Honestly at this point, he didn't care why they were here. Whatever it was he would make it not concern him at all costs. He supressed any possible floating anger and walked through the main doors.

He stopped a second and looked around. It was mainly empty. A few conversations taking place here and there but nothing out of the ordinary. Inwaardly, Zero wished "ordinary" would still describe the day, but he knew that would at some point change.

He made a mental plan. Step one: go to the Request room, scratch off today's kill. Step two: Find something to eat. He was starving, not having eaten anything all day. Step three: Leave. If he confronted a Jolon or Kaien in the process, he wouldn't care. He was tired. Hell, he was tired enough to even smile and wave if he confronted someone. Heh, he thought to himself, yeah right.

He turned a few corners and walked up a few flights of stairs until he reached, what they called, the Request room. The medium sized room was dimly lit like the rest of the building and it was where the lists of needed-to-be-killed Level E's were posted. Also, the special requests to specific hunters were placed into mailboxes that filled up one wall of the room. But those were the Level E's that either required a special procedure or carried an outstanding threat. Those didn't pop up often.

Only a pair of partners were in the room, but they didn't aknowledge him being there so he didn't bother acknowledging them either. Zero walked up to the wall posting all of the random ex-humans. He took a while scanning the board to find the one he had just offed. In the meantime the others in the room had left. What had been that ex-human's name... Kyoua, Hiroshu?

He scanned a moment longer until he found it. He realized it had already been crossed off. He figured it had been Suoh.

"Huh. Guess he's not so useless afterall." Zero thought outloud.

"Oh, no. Don't worry. He is. At least if we're talking about the same person."

Zero flinched as he heard the clear-cutting voice that he had hoped to avoid. He turned around immediately to the sight of a mousy looking woman, though her personality was far from mousy.

"Hi Zero," she said with a smile that wasn't even close to reaching her eyes.

"Shinobu." Zero acknowledged. Here she was. Shinobu Jolon. The mother of the Family from Hell right in front of him. She stared at him like a predator would stare at their prey, though her appearance didn't make her seem very vicious. Her thin blonde hair was in a ponytail and no makeup was on her face. She wore a camo tank top, brown cargo pants, and brown combat boots. In Zero's opinion, she was extremely unattractive, which wasn't uncommon in this line of work. But still, he admitted to himself, she look well for a woman of about fifty.

"Zero. My you have grown. Let's see, when was the last time I saw you?" Shinobu thought a moment. She cirlced around Zero slowly."Hmm... At least six years now. Give me a hug" She pouted.

Zero made no movement. He was sure as hell he wouldn't be hugging her. Shinobu seemed to notice this, but took a step forward anyway. Zero smoothly stepped back a few steps. "Why are you here." Zero said demandingly.

"Oh, Zero, must you be so cold? Come on, it's been years since I've seen you. The rest of the family wants to see you too." He could tell she was trying to sound defenseless, but Zero felt the venom dripping from the words as they came out of her mouth. "And if you must know, us being here has nothing to do with you. We have official business with Kaien and then we'll be out of here."

Zero just stared.

"Alright, fine. I get it. I'm not welcomed in your presence," she said smoothly putting her hands up in defeat. "But do say hello to the children. When they found out they were going to see you they were just so excited. It was cute. Well, I guess I'll see you later. Take care." And with that she turned and left.

Zero breathed a sigh of relief and walked out the door. Walking opposite the way Shinobu had left, he eventually found himself outside of the building. He decided he had done enough today, and before he met up with anybody else, he turned and headed for home.

**So there's chapter two. I think I'll update monthly from now on. But like I said, I don't think this one is as good as the first, but hopefully the next one will turn out okay. We'll see XD. Thanks for reading. Review if you want.**


	3. Reunion

**AAHHHHHHHHH! Writing this the day before posting it! So little time XD! I was at a family church camp all last week, and you know how those camp-y people (and my grandma) frown upon electronical stuff ;P. So sorry if this one is a little bad.**

**I also recently found live action OHSHC and Hell Girl. If you know what either of those animes are, I would DEFINATELY reccommend the live actions! But anyway, I've been so obsessed with those that I completely lost the vibe for VK. I've been watching the VK anime for all otday trying to remember characteristics of all the characters ;). Brain=Fried! Haha, I forgot how awesome this show/manga is! Oh, God, I love the Chairman!**

**So, anyway, read on. Review if you want. It helps, but I know I don't reveiw every story I read. Don't let me run your life XD!**

**Disclaimer: If you need one, it's in the last two chapters.**

* * *

**-Chapter 3-**

**Reunion**

As he walked to the Association building, Zero could feel his tolerance level dropping to a pretty low level. The rain pouring down was making him run to a new source of cover every few moments and his night had been pretty rough.

He hadn't been as angsty as the night before, but the hunger had been insufferable. He had taken more tablets, calming him down eventually, and he had been able to get back to bed earlier than usually. Which, he thought, he defianatly wasn't going to complain about.

Yet the pulling in his insides reminded him that he would still have to face the King of the Morning People Kaien and possibly the Jolons. That brought his tolerance to nearly below zero.

Rubbing his neck tiredly, he reached for the door to the Association. He paused as he began to pull it as he heard voices from the inside near the entryway. His mind ran through every curse word he knew as he placed all voices either to the chairman or to the members of the Jolon family.

Weighing facing the people he most didn't want to face or stay outside and get even more soaked than he was, the latter option won. Either could kill him. He trusted that if someone attacked him, he would be in a bad enough mood to fight back epically.

Breathing in and out slowly, Zero pushed the door open. As soon as he did, sixteen pairs of eyes turned to him. And awkward silence passed through the room. The only one not to feel the tension, however, was the president of the association, whom was the first to speak.

"Ah, good morning, Zero!" As cheerful as ever, even in the mornings, Kaien bounded up to Zero. "Zero, let me introduce the members of the Jolons to you, it's been so long since you last saw them," he continued completely oblivios to the death glare coming from Zero's eyes.

Tha association president began his presentation. He gestured his hand to the parents of the group. "Remember them? Takashi and Shinobu? They were talking about how great it is that you've grown up so wonderfully!" Zero highly doubted that comment would have been held with sincerity coming from these people. He kept his gaze locked on Shinobu, his mind running through yesterday's conversation with her.

Kien moved on, pointing to the most developed boy. "And this is Akira. He's quite abit older than you, but I remember you guys got along pretty well last time." It's like he didn't even know who the family was, Zero criticized in his mind.

Akira Jolon was taller than Zero, but only by a few cetimeters. He had muscles. Alot of muscles. He had a sharp, angular face, much like his parents, that showed an ever-present scowl of disaprovval. He had blue piercing eyes and spiky brown hair. He wore jeans and a tanktop that barely covered his upperbody.

"Zero," Akira acknowledged with a curt nod, and that was all he spoke. Zero recalled Akira never being too keen on words. But that really didn't bother Zero to any degree.

"And," Kaien continued cheerfully, "there's Nikoru and Koru. I'm sure you can tell which one's which!"

Well, no shit. Zero mentally rolled his eyes.

Nikoru and Koru had both been very close since their shared birth and spent almost every moment together. Yet, they were very easy to distinguish from each other. They had both originally had black hair, and Koru still did. Nikoru, however, had died her hair waist-length blonde, most likely to seem more innocent. That reminded Zero of the polar oppositeness of the twins. Koru was very still and emotionless but still liked to think he posed a threat to society.

He said nothing to Zero. His all-black clothing making him almost invisible in the dim lighting.

Nikoru, though, made sure her presense was well known to him. Squealing his name, she ran up to tackle him, almost knocking him over.

"Hey!" He shoved her off of him, not caring to be gentle.

"Oh, Zero, you're so mean. I just wanted a hug. Afterall, we haven't seen seen each other in, like, years." Nikoru pouted, still trying to cling to Zero.

"Nikoru, behave." The deep, grave voice of Takashi cut through the room. Nikoru instantly froze and quietly walked back to her twin brother's side, who still did not move a muscle. She had decided to not acknowledge him any further for the time being.

"Oh, and Zero, remember him?" The chairman continued with his much not-needed introductions. "This is Osamu. You guys are pretty close in age, right?"

As much as Zero tried not to, there was a trace of surprise on his face, which almost turned into disgust. The fourth Jolon child was eveything opposite of his oldest brother. Osamu had short blonde hair that kind of stuck out in all was much shorter than Zero, and about three sizes larger, as well. The boy had obviously never missed a mean in his life. Yet, to be a Jolon, he would have to be able to do something about hunting vampires. That would be amusing to watch, decided Zero.

"Hello, Zero," wheezed Osamu, his eyes slightly narrowed. There was disdain in his voice.

Zero couldn't help but recall the last time he had been with Osamu. It had ended with Osama being restrained by the grown-ups around them and Zero with a black-ish eye. The details had long been forgottten by Zero, but apparently Osamu couldn't let go of the past.

But as long as he stayed away, the past could stay forgotten on Zero's part.

"And finally, we have sweet Noriko," the chairman said with a grin as he pointed to the last remaining Jolon.

Zero saw her, but couldn't recall meeting her before.

Noriko was about about the height of Osamu, but didn't stand out as much as he did. She was a bit more heavier than her sister, but not to an alarming degree. She had straight brown hair that reached past her shoulders. Nithing really out of the orsinary.

She said nothing to Zero, just kept her head bowed. She seemed to have a slightly different aura than the rest of her family, not diplaying as much confidence, but knowing how the Jolons were, Zero fighured it could very well just be an act. It really wouldn't surprise him.

The chairman, seeing the introductions were complete, decided to come up with a "brilliant" plan.

"Zero, why don't you take them all with you on your captures. I'm sure that if you work well with them all, you could bring down far more than usual." Zerro, seeing the chairman was completely serious about this suggestion, gave the chaairman the most threatening look he could manage. The look could deter anyone.

Except the president of the Association.

"Absolutely not," Zero said firmly.

"Oh, but Zero-" Nikoru started, but was stopped with a glare from her father.

"If Zero does not want us to accompany him, then we will not intrude." Takashi explained.

"Oh, very well then," the chairman said, obviously disappointed. "I guess another time then."

"Please excuse me." Zero murmmered before heading off to start his rounds.

* * *

**AHHHHHHHHH! I know this isn't very good DX DX DX! I am not good at being rushed. So this one is a little short, but I am running around everywhere right now. I'm leaving for New Orleans in a few days for a mission trip, so things are hectic.**

**And I don't know if the next one will be out on the twelfth or not. I have alot of vacations and camps I have to attend to. We'll see. :/**

**Next chapter I will definately get more into the ZeroXOC stuff. Promise. Things are just not good right now.**

**And sorry for any spelling errors. My cat was walking all over the keyboarad at random times, and I don't have a spell check. So please excuse those, and I'll see ya next time ;/.**


	4. Noriko Jolon

**What is this? The 4th chapter?**

**Disclaimer: It's in the first two chapters, I believe.**

* * *

**-Chapter 4-**

**Noriko Jolon**

Having no luck finding any captures so far had left Zero in a fairly bad mood. He had managed to leave the Association before he could be assigned a "partner," and he was sure he would catch hell for it later from Yagari. But for now he decided to try to enjoy being away from everything, ignoring the part that would follow him for the rest of his life.

The slight discomfort from his stomache told Zero that finding food wouldn't be a bad option at this point.

He walked further into town, heading towards the place he usually went for food and to sulk. He had gone there once when he was forced to do shopping chores for the Chairman with Yuki, and many times after that. That particular visit stayed in his mind, for it had ended badly. He forced his emotions down and walked through the door.

"Welcome," a voice chimed from behind a counter. The chef's back was facing Zero as he sat in a stool at the bar-type table. "Ah, Zero. Welcome back! How are you?"

"Fine," Zero muttered. He never tried to deliberately ignore this man. Even though Zero never bothered to learn his name, the man had always been kind to Zero and posed no real threat, so Zero never found a reason to be displeasant towards him.

"The usual?" The chef always asked, though he never needed to. Zero had never bothered changing his usual noodles.

Zero nodded, and with a smile, the man turned to prepare the dish. While he waited, Zero glanced around the restaurant. There was never too many people here, one of the things he liked about this place. A couple sat in the corner, what seemed to be a mother and her young daughter were at one end of the bar, while an elderly man sat with a newspaper at the other. All conversations were kept to a hush, relaxaing Zero. He folded his arms on the table and laid his head on them. He soon felt a wave of peace wash over him.

"Zero... your food is ready..." A light tap on his shoulder and hearing his name baing called brought Zero back to conciousness. He lifted his head to first see a bowl of noodles in front of him and then the chef. "Enjoy," offered the chef before turning back to other orders.

Zero stiffled a yawn and stretched a tiny bit, barely registering he had fallen asleep. It had been dreamless and short, but it had felt better than the sleep had been getting recently at night had.

He finished his food, laid money onto the counter, and after nodding to the chef, Zero left the restaurant . He decided getting back to hunting Level E's was probably his best option. Thinking back to the files, he recalled that one of his assignments liked to lurk around a nearby fountain, so he headed there first.

Standing in the shadows of the nearby trees, he realxed his senses and let himself fall into instinct, to trust if the right guy showed up, he would know.

Around an hour and a half of waiting had passed before Zero finally lost interest in this area. It was becoming pretty late and slowly getting darker. He thought it was easiest just to head back to the Association when giggling and chatter interrupted his thoughts. The noise sent a familiar chill run down his back. He then knew his target was close.

He fell into hunter mode. He place his hand on the outer layer of the pocket where his gun was greatly concealed. Turning to glance at his target, he caught sight of them almost directly behind him.

The Level E was about six feet tall with blonde hair. He looked princely, but Zero could see the beast underneath the outside skin. The fallen vampire was casually conversing with a young girl, a little younger than Zero, whose back was turned to him. Probably prey, Zero's thoughts gathered.

Stalking over, Zero listened to their conversation for confirmation. Usually, the Level E's would offer to take the victim to a secluded area, such as a house or appartment. Possibly earning enough trust from their victim they could make up a story. Pretty much anything to make it appear they offered no threat. Zero got closer to make out the voices better and shut his eyes, sitting on the edge of the fountain a few feet from the couple.

The female was giggling from something the ex-human had just said, her blond curls bouncing. "Oh, Ryoh, you're so funny!" Zero felt something off about the voice. Maybe something familiar? It was a small town and completely possible he would know the girl. But that didn't mean he had to care.

"Thanks," apparently-Ryoh replied. "Listen, I'm meeting a few friends at this barn on the south edge of town. Did you want to come with me?" _Bingo._ That would be the suclusion part of the act. Zero thought of the lay-out of the southern outskirts of the town. There were a few roads out and in, a few buildings here and there, but only one barn. With his eyes still closed, Zero slightly drew his lips into a small triumphant smile.

The girls eyes shone with excitement, but soon turned slightly worried. "Do any of them own the place? I mean, what happens if you get caught, or something."

Ryoh smiled, but from his tone, Zero could tell that there was some mischievousness hidden behind the facade. "Oh, there's no problem. It's been abandoned for years. No one should be interrupting us."

The young girl practically squealed with the intensity of his offer. The squeal, once again, caught Zero's attention as familiar, but he ruled it as possibly one of the girls from Cross Academy he had guarded the night class from. He almost swore as he held back an eye-roll. Life was just there to annoy him.

He let his mind take him back to the situation at hand. His brain thought through possible situations and concluded two reasonable ones.

Option one was to take the guy down now. Yet, that plan had many negatives. They were in a heavily populated area. He or his target could easily hurt someone. And people meant witnesses. It would be a pain to have to contain all of the people to evetually erase their memories of this event. Also, this Ryoh guy could possibly run, making this an all-night chase, which really didn't sound appealing to Zero.

He concluded option two would work best.

Option two was to beat the Level E to the abandoned barn, hide, and wait. There he could corner him and then just have to worry about one witness. Also, the Level E would be too far gone to sense Zero's presense. That was definately the easiest route.

Taking backstreets, Zero soon reached the city limits. Using trees, he hopped over the gates onto the other side. Quickly, but all-the-while being stealthy, he reached the abandoned barn.

For being abandoned, it wasn't in terrible shape, but not usable either. Looking like something out of a horror story in the moonlight, it had a few holes here and there, a couple gashes, and the paint was beyond peeling, yet it still seemed sturdy and safe. Zero entered and instantly looked around for a spot where he could remain hidden until the right moment. Knowing a Level E would most likely prefer the wide open part of the barn, he let himself in the tiny closet-like storage space and made sure all of himself was hidden. Soon enough, he had found a small hole in the wall that he would be able to peer through. He took his gun out, threw the safety switch off and held it ready.

He waited several minutes before he heard the familiar giggling and chatting of the Level E and his soon-to-be dinner.

"Here we are." Ryoh's voice echoed through the seemingly-empty building.

"Where are your friends?" Zero almost, once again, rolled his eyes. Humans could be pretty stupid sometimes.

"Yeah, about that," Ryoh reached out and grabbed one of the female's wrists with one hand and threw the other one around her mouth and pinned the back of her body to his front. Surprisingly, the blond remained completely calm. "Sorry, babe, but I had to lie about that. Now stay still while I..." The Level E's voice started fading as he got closer to the girl's neck, his eyes turning a deep red before closing them completely.

Zero prepared to reveal himself from his hiding spot as the Level E's fangs lightly brushed the skin on the blond's neck.

But before he could...

"Freeze."

Six bodies suddenly surrounded the vampire and his prey. The vampire looked up from his prey to look at the intruders. Very slowly, he began to laugh, becoming out of control.

The full moon passed through a hole in the roof illuminating the small barn.

Shinobu, Takashi, Akira, Koru, Osamu, and Noriko all stood surrounding the target, pointing different anti-vampire weopons at him in confident postures. His "prey," Nikoru stood still in grasp, her free hand behind her holding a small knife to his brain.

"Release her." Takashi's voice once again sounded throughout the room.

Still laughing slightly, the Level E let go of Nikoru as if she were suddenly made of fire. Nikoru bounded over and took a place next to her twin. Turning around and holding her knife in a way that made her ready to throw it at any time, a small smile plastered on her face.

"So, you think you've got me, huh? None of you stand a chance to me, I am immortal." Ryoh chanted. This wasn't unikely. Zero thought back to his master's teachings. He recalled from the lessons that many "masters" told their "minions* that once the transformation was complete, they lost the ability to die. Of course, this was not true, and all together lowered Zero's opinion on humans. Still, he kept his eyes on the scene in front of him.

The Level E continued to scream threats. None of the Jolons moved a muscle.

Realizing the threats were doing nothing, Ryoh resorted back to laughing maniacally.

Shinobu squinted her eyes. Not taking her eyes off the target, she spoke firmly. "Noriko."

Zero's eyes drifted to the youngest child as she slowly stepped forward, now noticing that she was the only one without a weapon. Not removing the eye contact between her and Ryoh, she reached down into her boot and withdrew a simple knife. Lifting the blade to her arm, she slowly pressed down and brought knife across her arm, her eyes twitching from the slight pain.

Blood soon started to trickle down Noriko's arm, causing the Level E to straighten up and stare directly at the source.

Losing control and with a monstrous growl, the vampire target lauched forward, latching itself onto Noriko's arm. Noriko clenched her hands into tight fists and sqeezed her eyes shut to keep her from gasping from the pain.

Zero expected the rest of the Jolons to take action and finally bring him down. Yet, no one moved. And awkward silence filled he room, filled only with the heavy gulps of the desperate Level E pulling life blood out of Noriko's viens.

Zero fell against the wall behind him with his hands on his neck breathing heavily, trying to remain silent while trying to refuse the scent of blood from reaching his senses. He reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out the cursed little box and carefully throwing half of blood tablets into his mouth, then chewing and swallowing. He did this all while being completely silent, as he had in past situations.

Soon he had calmed down enough to gaze back out the small hole, only to find no real change. He felt something should be done. Seeing Noriko being attacked unwillingly by a vampire brought many memories back to Zero's mind. He began weighing watching for a few more moments or reveal himself and his hiding spot, unknowing of what consequences this would bring. Zero gripped the gun more tightly, about to expose himself, when a change occured.

The Level E eventually pulled back, laughing slightly before attacking Noriko's neck.

This time she couldn't hold back the gasp of pain the bite brought.

Zero kicked the small door down and aimed his gun at the Level E. Without thinking too much and running purely on adrenaline and the thrill of the kill, he pulled the trigger on his gun a few times, blasting anti-vampire magic straight at the head of the target.

Within seconds, the Level E burst into pieces of dust with an invisible gust of wind. No longer having something supporting her, Noriko collapsed to the ground giving a small whimper before closing her eyes, her muscles relaxing as she slipped away from consiousness for the moment.

Silence filled the room. Six set of eyes staring at Zero, Zero shifting his gaze to all of them.

Nikoru, of course, boke the silence. "Oh, Zero, did you come to save me? You didn't have to worry. See, I'm fine," she said in a flirtatios manner.

"Nikoru!" Takashi, of course, was the one to shut her up.

Blood still pumping at a higher rate from adrenaline, Zero still felt like fighting. He started at Shinobu.

"This was my assignment. Who do you think you are to intrude. And why did you let thing attack her?" Zero knew he wasn't amking too much sense, but the smell of blood was coming to him again, and with his heart beating as fast as it was, thinking was almost becoming impossible.

"Zero, if this was your assignment, why didn't you just do it already?" Shinobu met Zero's cold glare. "And plus, she's used to it. They all are. It's part of the plan."

Zero wanted to say more, but was to angry and aggitated to form words. He felt the hunger arising in him once again, and as he fumbled for his box of tablets again, Shinobu saw no point in staying.

"Come along, children. Let's return. Leave Noriko. She knows the way back, as always. She'll get it herself." And with that, the Jolons, excluding the youngest, all turned and left, soon out of sight.

Calming down from the newest batch of tablets, Zero turned toward the girl and carefully felt around her neck for a pulse. He found one, surprised that it was actually strong for what her condition was. He looked around the barn for a while, finding old cloths and such. He went back and wrapped them around her wounds, trying to block out the scent of blood, seeing as he was out of tablets. Bunching up a few cloths, he made a makeshift pillow out of them and carefully placed them under Noriko's head, laying her on her back.

He stood up and sighed, pondering his next move. He could barely move as it was, let alone carry another person. He was too tired. Too sore. Too messed up in the head at the moment.

Seeing no other choice, he gathered more cloths, bundled them up and placed them a feww feet from Noriko's head. Laying down and placing his head on the temporary pillow, he moved around until he found a slightly more comfortable position. After a few moments of reflection and making sure the other person in the room was still breathing, Zero eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

**EEP! Sorry this one got really long. I kindof, maybe got too into it for a while there. Sorry. And there's probably alot of mistakes, but I really don't have a long enought attention span to go back and read it. Ending here kinda sucks. Sorry. And sorry this is like, a day late. Dad's birthday weekend, haven't been home all day.**

**Next Chapter: We find out ALOT about the Jolon family, their secrets, and all that stuff from Noriko herself. Probably won't be as long as this one. But we'll see XD. But no seriously: not as long as this one.**


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